Just got back from a car camping trip with two of my buddies. The surrounding area is designated wilderness and is IMO the finest backcountry Colorado River Cutthroat fishery in the state. There is better backcountry fishing for Yellowstone Cutts in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. And there are some incredible Greenback Cutt fisheries in the state, but this is 'bout as good as it gets for Colorado River Cutthroats in the backcountry.

We day hiked to mulitple lakes and slayed em. We only harvested one fish.....my buddy John's first ever trout on a fly rod. And it was only a 12 incher. My other buddy Matt was able to snare a few well built fish in the 18-19" range, but my best fish was a skinny guy at 17". I did catch quite a few solid cutts right at 14".

I didn't want to leave. My friends had to be back a few nights before I wanted to leave so I had them call in sick to my work for me after they got back into cell phone range. In the meantime I extended my stay high up in the mountains and milked these lakes for all they were worth. I know there are probably a number of backcountry lakes in the state that hold larger Colorado Cutts than these but I have yet to find them. But, I'm always exploring......maybe one day I'll hit the pot 'o gold.

A couple of solid cutts that cut the tape right at 14"

My longest fish of the trip was this 17" bean pole. He was a little skinny but he put up a nice fight & was fun to tangle with.

Your typical backcountry Colorado River Cutthroat

We caught plenty of smaller trout as well. This little butterball is about 11"

Back country Cutthroat Trips make for some of my fondest fly-fishing memories. They may not be the biggest fish you ever net, but the beauty of the fish itself and not to mention the landscape that Cutthroat trout thrive in make the trips so amazing. Thanks for sharing....

Around high lakes, there are always inlet and outlet streams galore that connect the lakes. Generally at altitude, the larger fish stay in the lakes, but there are always lots of little guys in the streams. We did have a riot catching some nice little butterballs in the streams but our best fish came from the lakes.